Abuja, March 7 (IANS): Boko Haram fighters killed at least nine people in a latest attack in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, a police source said.

Throats of the nine people were slit by the terror group members who attacked Shani, a fairly populated town located about 240 km south of Maiduguri, capital of the northern Borno State on Wednesday night, the police source, who pleaded for anonymity, said on Friday, xinhua reported.

The attack lasted for about five hours, according to the police officer.

Aminu Dauda, a local resident, also confirmed that the Boko Haram fighters went further to set fire on public buildings in the area, including the headquarters of divisional police in the town.

Shani, itself a district government headquarters in Borno, has in the past experienced less attacks by Boko Haram, a terror group which seeks to enshrine the Islamic Sharia law in the constitution of Nigeria.

Local residents claim there was no military presence in the area.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian military authorities have deployed more troops to the central part of Borno State to reclaim territories seized by the terror group, a senior official said.

The official, who was not authorised to speak to the media on the development, said the operation to reclaim, most especially, Bama was underway, and adding all platforms needed to carry out the operation had been made ready by the authorities.

A dozen 56-seater buses conveying military troops were seen in the state capital, Maiduguri, moving toward the central part of the state on Friday. The central part of Borno had been held by Boko Haram since October 2014.